Madge Garland (née McHarg, 12 June 1898 – 15 July 1990) was an influential
figure in the British fashion scene, who made her name as a fashion journalist
and editor working for, among others, Vogue and Women's Wear Daily.
From journalism, she moved into a business role during wartime, later advising
the British fashion industry and helping to form the London Fashion Group – a
forerunner to the British Fashion Council.

In 1948, she founded the first fashion course at the Royal College of Art,
helping to develop a rigorous academic framework with a strong industry focus.
Robert O'Byrne described Garland as among the female pioneers who: "battled to
have fashion design taken more seriously, in particular fighting for academic
acknowledgment".[2]

Garland's obituary in The Times noted: "She was no society
featherhead, but a key figure in the history of British fashion journalism,
the British fashion industry and the training of fashion designers."[3]

Garland's private life was shrouded in secrecy during her lifetime and
subject to some scandal.[11]
Lisa Cohen's 2012 book All We Know: Three Lives describes Garland and
Dorothy Todd as life partners.[16]
Their relationship is said to have inspired
Frederick Ashton's
first short ballet A Tragedy of Fashion.[17]
Garland's earlier brief marriage – described as an escape – was to an admirer
Ewart Garland. Years later she would recount sending him a telegram from a
hospital bed asking him to come and marry her immediately.[4]
In 1953, she married
Sir Leigh
Ashton, an old friend and director of the Victoria and Albert Museum.[4]
This has been described as a marriage of convenience, as Ashton was also gay.[18]
The marriage was over after a year, but the couple did not divorce until 1962
– Garland retained the name Lady Ashton for formal purposes.[3]
She had no children.[19]